Iowa's Gary Dolphin Suspended For Rest Of The Year

[TSmith34, Inc.]

Between the helmet and the spelling, Kong looks German to me in that picture.

That's not quite the point though, is it.

Yes, it appears to be from a U.S. Army recruiting poster

[dinger]

I believe a wise man once said (paraphrasing here) "it's not what was said, it's who said it"

Most Iowa fans would say Dolph had it coming because Gary Barta had it in for him and was looking for any reason to suspend or fire him

Ironically Gary Barta suffered no consequence himself when the athletic dept lost 8 million in damages due to his own discriminatory behavior

[Not A Serious Person]

Related question ...

Do you agree that Warriors is demeaning to native Americans?

If so, should this site scrub all references to Warriors from it?

Is 4everwarriors a racist and insensitive handle?

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Is Lazar's Headband racist? 

He wrote this on January 24 about Theo
https://www.muscoop.com/index.php?topic=57547.msg1082166#msg1082166

Badder than old King Kong?  Check
Meaner than a junk yard dog?  Check

Why was Dolphin's comment worse?

And, since everyone here NOW knows how obvious the King Kong reference is racist,  why did no one call Headband on it?

The point is this is only racist because someone personally decided it was racist and the many are too weak to push back on these standards.

This is the problem with dubious racist comments.

Heise,

If you read the thread, you'll notice that Warriorchick did call out the reference and then Lazar's Headband withdrew his support for his previous comment two posts later. I can't speak for others, but that's why I didn't say anything at the time.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Related question ...

Do you agree that Warriors is demeaning to native Americans?

If so, should this site scrub all references to Warriors from it?

Is 4everwarriors a racist and insensitive handle?

Warriors by itself? No. With the imagery we used to represent warriors? Yes

All references? No. I do wish that people would drop the native american imagery that they have in their avatars and signatures though.

The name? No. The fact that he has Willie Wampum as his avatar? Yes.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

It’s complicated, you would ‘t understand because of your life history.  Same question why some guys in Virginia still have jobs while same action elsewhere meant resignations.  Consistently complicated apparently.

Cheeks, I asked you a question earlier. In case you missed it:

Cheeks, I'm curious what you think about my Chevy Nova story. I've shared it with you in two threads and now in both threads you didn't respond either time. Agree? Disagree? No opinion?

I'm really curious on your thoughts.

[Pakuni]

Related question ...

Do you agree that Warriors is demeaning to native Americans?

If so, should this site scrub all references to Warriors from it?

Is 4everwarriors a racist and insensitive handle?

No.
No.
No. His avatar is, though.

[4everwarriors]

The avatar stays. Deal with it.

[Jockey]

No.
No.
No. His avatar is, though.

Exactly right. Nothing wrong with the term "warriors", whether referring to Roman fighters, Indians braves, or members of our own military.

Using an offensive caricature of an Indian, however, is using a racist symbol. A person continuing to use an offensive symbol and being proud of it is as good of a definition of a racist as I can think of. I

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Using an offensive caricature of an Indian, however, is using a racist symbol. A person continuing to use an offensive symbol and being proud of it is as good of a definition of a racist as I can think of. I

See Jockey, I don't agree with this. Just because someone doesn't agree with you on whether or not something is racist, doesn't make them a racist. A racist to me is someone who hates or looks down upon another human being simply because that person is a member of a racial minority. Reasonable people can disagree on whether or not something is offensive. The key for me is that when two reasonable people disagree, do they treat each other with respect? Or do they call each other names and tell the other one that they are wrong? Unfortunately, I think we have a lot more of the latter than the former.

[GooooMarquette]

I think this is one of the problems here. Heart, intent, etc are not the important parts of the conversation. Impact is. I posted this story in another thread but it got locked before there was much time to respond, i'll repost it here:

This reminds me of a story I was told by a professor during one of my advertising classes. He said a while back, Chevy was trying to increase the amount of cars it sold in Mexico. They decided that the car that they were going to try and promote in Mexico was the Chevy Nova. After months of marketing, sales were impossibly low. They couldn't figure out the issue so they did some assessment of the locals. It was only then that they realized that Nova translates in Spanish to "No go" or "not going", not exactly a positive endorsement for a car. I don't remember if they changed the name of the car in Mexico or started marketing a different car but that fixed the issue.

Now I have no idea if that story is true or not, it was the example the professor gave to drive home an important lesson. It does not matter what message you intend to send, it matters what message your customer receives. The poor Nova sales were not the fault of the locals not understanding Chevy's message, they were the fault of Chevy not realizing what impact their message would have on the locals.

The same lesson can be applied here. I am willing to believe that Dolphin intended his comment as a compliment or at very least as a harmless descriptor. I don't think he is a racist who hates or thinks less of black people. I think he is a guy who made a mistake and said something that can reasonably be interpreted as racist or offensive. Comparing black people to monkeys has a long and awful history in our country, and I think it is reasonable for a person to be offended by the comparison, even if the intent was harmless.

I don't think Dolphin should be called a racist. I don't think he should be thrown in jail or even lose his job. I do think what he said was a racist statement. And I do think he should be held accountable for it. Because whether or not he intended to offend is irrelevant, he did offend people, that is inarguable, and you should be accountable for your actions, even if you had the best of intent. Given that part of a radio announcer's job is to not say offensive things on air, I do think a suspension is appropriate. We can argue about how long the suspension should be.

I think it would go a long way and show a lot of character if Dolphin owned his action and genuinely apologized for the negative impact that he unintentionally caused. I would hope that if he did that, people would find it in them to accept the apology and forgive. I would also hope that his suspension gets lifted and that he can be an even better announcer in the future.

Couldn't have said it any better. Well done.

[buckchuckler]

The story about the Nova is basically an urban legend that isn't true, by the way. 

Doesn't change the point you're making, I just thought I'd add that.

[Lennys Tap]

The story about the Nova is basically an urban legend that isn't true, by the way. 

Doesn't change the point you're making, I just thought I'd add that.

I like a good parable or fable as much as the next guy, but when they're passed off as fact the message is lost on me.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

I like a good parable or fable as much as the next guy, but when they're passed off as fact the message is lost on me.

Now I have no idea if that story is true or not, it was the example the professor gave to drive home an important lesson.

[Lennys Tap]

Why did the professor need a fake story (which he didn't acknowledge as untrue) to drive home his point?

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Why did the professor need a fake story (which he didn't acknowledge as untrue) to drive home his point?

I'll be honest, I have no idea if he said it was true, untrue, or didn't say it at all. It was 10 years ago at this point, I don't remember. I don't think it makes the point any less true.

[Lennys Tap]

I'll be honest, I have no idea if he said it was true, untrue, or didn't say it at all. It was 10 years ago at this point, I don't remember. I don't think it makes the point any less true.

Like I said, if it was told as a parable or a fable I don't have a problem with it - though in economics/business/ facts matter.

Lots of phony stories being told these days that people insist "make a point" even if they're fake. If the point is valid shouldn't there be a true story out there to make it with?

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Like I said, if it was told as a parable or a fable I don't have a problem with it - though in economics/business/ facts matter.

Lots of phony stories being told these days that people insist "make a point" even if they're fake. If the point is valid shouldn't there be a true story out there to make it with?

So do you disagree with the point?

[Pakuni]

Why did the professor need a fake story (which he didn't acknowledge as untrue) to drive home his point?

We humans have a long and successful history of using fake stories to drive home points.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

We humans have a long and successful history of using fake stories to drive home points.

There was this guy from Nazareth who was a huge fan of parables

[Not A Serious Person]

There was this guy from Nazareth who was a huge fan of parables

Many many moons ago I saw them play with Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath. 

Great show

[Lennys Tap]

We humans have a long and successful history of using fake stories to drive home points.

No problem as long as they're acknowledged as such. Making up stuff and saying it's fact because if it were it would drive home a good point? Not a fan.

[Not A Serious Person]

Exactly right. Nothing wrong with the term "warriors", whether referring to Roman fighters, Indians braves, or members of our own military.

Using an offensive caricature of an Indian, however, is using a racist symbol. A person continuing to use an offensive symbol and being proud of it is as good of a definition of a racist as I can think of. I

Is this racist?

[Lennys Tap]

So do you disagree with the point?

I don't know. If there are true stories that bear out his point I suppose I do. But when it comes to economics I'm leery of guys who make up stories and tell them as facts to make a point.

[Pakuni]

I don't know. If there are true stories that bear out his point I suppose I do. But when it comes to economics I'm leery of guys who make up stories and tell them as facts to make a point.

It's a fair point
On the other hand, I'm skeptical that any nation really had a guns vs butter debate.